How to Make a Money Notepad – A Cute & Practical Gift!!

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I’ve been wanting to create this gift idea for the blog for quite some time, but I never got around to it because I always make these gifts at the last minute! Then I forget to take pics.

This year I got my act together and snapped pics of the entire process for you! It’s pretty easy to make a pad of cash and they make the best gift!

THESE ARE REAL MONEY PADS! Yes they are real. LOL Someone just asked me where I got the fake money! hehe It’s not fake money – it’s real life money. 🙂

Here’s a video preview of the entire notepad creation process so you can see how it easy it is! Keep reading below for the materials list + full instructions.

How to Make a Pad of Dollar Bills – DIY Money Notepad

This year I’m giving my niece a money note pad for Christmas. Here are the exact steps so you can make your own real money pads! They can tear off dollar bills as they need them to spend like a check from a checkbook, or save the pad for a rainy day.

Step by Step Instructions with Pics

1) Start with the crisp bills.

This is the most important step. They must be crisp or the tear off money pad won’t lay flat or look nice. Trust me, I’ve tried to cheat on this one. I wouldn’t bother if you don’t have nice looking one dollar bills! 😀

If you wanna be a high roller, you could go with $2 bills. I wanted to keep the gift a reasonable price, so I stuck with one dollar bills.

2) Cut out the cardboard backing exactly to the size of the bills.

Use one dollar bill as your template. You can do this with scissors, but for nice clean edges, I recommend a paper trimmer like this or this

3) Line the bills up precisely with the cardboard backing like this.

This will take a minute or two to get just right. Make sure none of the bills are crooked or sticking out.

4) Clamp the left side of the stack of bills with small binder clips.

5) Add a layer of padding compound to the edge of the tightly clamped stack of bills.

This is the exact padding compound I used. As for the brush, any small brush will do – I just grabbed this one out of my kids’ craft supplies. I will say that using a round brush is harder than a flat one, so go with flat if you can!

Your first coat will look thin like this:

6) Keep layering on the adhesive really thick.

You want at least 5 layers all at once on your tear off money pad. It will start to set up pretty quickly, so it won’t run off as you add layers. When you have enough that it’s still sticking but looks like it might start running off – that’s enough! 😀

Here’s a pic that better illustrates just how thick your layering should be. It will look a little lumpy! But that’s ok. It will dry flat!

7) Lay down the book of 1 dollar bills to dry.

Let dry fully. I didn’t count the hours, but overnight did the trick. I’d say at least 8 if you’re doing this all in one day.

You don’t want the adhesive to be tacky at all because the bills need to tear off cleanly, like an office notepad.

If you put several layers of adhesive like I showed above, the notepad should be stuck together enough to pull a bill from the middle or top. A cool idea would be to start with 1 extra bill at first so you can tear off the first one to check.

If, for some reason, your pads of cash seem to be falling apart, it’s because you didn’t use enough adhesive. Try fixing the problem by clamping the dollar bill pads tightly once more and adding more layers to the original edge. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to scrape off the original adhesive and try again.

I’ve made several of these real money pads and only had one fall apart – it was the first one where I only used a single layer of adhesive. I think you’re good to go if you used 5 or so as recommended!

8) Now show everyone your notepad!

It is sooooo cool. Everyone who sees one of these things wants one!

I just found out the adhesive I used for this notepad comes in many different colors! I think this could be so much cooler now!

These pads of cash make great gifts for any occasion really. I like to give them to the teens in our family for Christmas. Even if you’re only giving them $15, the coolness factor makes the gift seem so much bigger! 😀

Whether you make a bound book of 1 dollar or 2 dollar bills, you’ll have a great time making it and giving this as a gift.

You could also use this same notepad making method to make notepads out of anything paper – think: chore coupons, love notes for Valentine’s Day, an actual notepad you designed yourself. The ideas are endless!

If you liked this tutorial, let me know in the comments below! I’d love to hear who you will be giving your money notepad to as a gift!

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Ha that’s a good idea! I’ve actually done that before….and had it dispense out of a tissue box. It was way harder to do than the notepad, so I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’ve got a lot of free time on your hands! lol

That’s such a cool craft, and the thing I love most about it is that EVERYONE who gets it will use it. It’s not trinket that will end up in the trash. Thanks for sharing this – I’d like to try this one year!

I worked in a bank for many years. We made these up with new $2.00 bills. 25 per pack, which was $50.00.
Many of our customers used them when traveling, as they would tear one (or more) off for a tip!.
They were super popular.

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